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Monday, February 6

2017 Resolutions

For my resolutions this year, I decided to separate it out into different categories. My intention in doing this was to make sure that I was keeping a balanced life and progressing on all of these areas. I created these resolutions after thinking about my last year's resolutions.

For the record, this picture doesn't relate to this post at all.

But just look at how happy I am with this giant dog.

1. Career - Set work/life balance. I am overall, pretty satisfied with work. However, one big complaint is that work takes so much time and I feel like I don't have the time to pursue passions outside of work. So this year, I aim to set a balance with work. I want to be able to leave work at work and not stress about it outside. I want to be able to leave work at a set time, rather than when I physically can't work anymore. My goal is to work more when I'm at work instead of goofing off and learn to be more efficient with my time. 2. Physical - Be mindful about health. This is a refresh of my goals from last year, though I'm going to focus more on diet and nutrition than exercise. I'd like to cut out more dairy - especially those Starbucks drinks! I'd also like to substitute more veggies for pasta and rice. Finally, I have plans to do a few "eat at home" challenges to encourage me to bring more food to work. I've already done one of them this week and I'm already noticing how it's helping me eat just a bit less. 3. Creative - Keep chasing beauty. Over the last year, I've picked up a few hobbies: calligraphy and watercoloring. I was inspired by how popular these hobbies have gotten in the blogging realm. I'm not good by any means, professional or amateur, but they bring me happiness. And if it's relaxing and makes me happy, I'll pursue it!4. Travel - Plan it, and it will happen. Oh, where in the world do I want to go this year? There are a few trips that I know I want to take. Portland, for one. And I want to fly to visit a friend. That's for sure. Otherwise, my plans are hazier. I'd like to do an international trip to an small island or to Australia, but that might be in the books for 2018 rather than this year. 5. Mental - Pursue knowledge. I'm a few years out of school now and I feel like to a certain extent I've stopped learning. Of course, through out the course of life, I'm learning a lot of life lessons, and I learn a lot at work, but it's not quite the same as in school. This year, I want to do something to encourage my learning and professional development. There are plenty of courses to take online and maybe I'll attend a lecture or two!6. Relational - Don't be a loner. Let me be honest here. I have no friends. I'm kinda okay with that, but I feel like in the long run, I should make some friends because that's healthy and stuff. So, I started a list in my bullet journal to do one social activity a week. I'm 0/4 in January so far, but you know, it's all about improvement!

I think #1 and #2 go hand in hand. Finding a work/life balance is important because stress has deleterious effects on your health. Also, impressive you do watercolor! I never could quite master the art of painting with more translucent pigments.

BTW, just followed you on Bloglovin. I thought I was following you, but this explains why your posts didn't pop up on my feed. Fixed.

Your resolutions are so well-rounded! I've unofficially been trying to do more creative things as well. Creative projects have always seemed like a "just for fun" thing that takes a backseat when I'm busy with "more important" things. But these creative projects have really helped me mentally; doing things that make me happy make me happy! And from creativity comes more creativity! -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey's

I'm 100% about work-life balance! I work hard and make sure that my stuff gets done but when I'm home, I'M HOME and I never log in. I refused to get email on my phone because that makes it so much harder to switch off.

These are great goals for sure. It's good to hear you're already on your way (ie picking up new hobbies). And as others have said, I so can relate to #6, although I've always been a loner so I don't think that's gonna change soon no matter how hard I try:)

I'm impressed you make a resolution! I stopped that long time ago because it just doesn't happen for me. I do have a theme every year to improve myself like last year it was "change". It means to change for the good so whenever a situation happened, I asked myself what do I want and how do I change it for the good.

I always enjoy setting goals and resolutions for the new year. These sound like good ones! I love your "chasing beauty" goal, there are so many ways to do that and no doubt they will all bring joy to your life! I'm terrible about getting out and doing social activities too.